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Abstract
BackgroundMembers of the genus Arcobacter are considered as emerging zoonotic food and waterborne pathogens that cause gastroenteritis and bacteremia in humans. However, the potential risk that Arcobacter species pose to public health remains unassessed in various countries, including Baltic states. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility and presence of putative virulence genes of Arcobacter isolates recovered from humans, food products and environmental water in Lithuania.ResultsA total of 1862 samples were collected and examined from 2018 to 2020 in the city of Kaunas. Overall, 11.2% (n = 208) of the samples were positive for the presence of Arcobacter spp. The highest prevalence was detected in chicken meat (36%), followed by environmental water (28.1%), raw cow milk (25%), ready-to-eat salad mixes (7.1%) and human stool (1.7%). A. butzleri was the most frequently isolated species (n = 192; 92.3%), followed by A. cryaerophilus (n = 16; 7.7%). Arcobacter spp. antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed unimodally distributed aggregated minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for gentamicin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, ampicillin and erythromycin. However, a bimodal distribution for azithromycin was found with 96.2% of determined MICs above the epidemiological cut-off value (ECOFF) defined for Campylobacter jejuni (0.25 µg/ml). Majority of the Arcobacter isolates (n = 187; 89.9%) showed high susceptibility to ciprofloxacin with MICs below or equal to the ECOFF value of 0.5 µg/ml. The putative virulence genes cadF (100%), ciaB (100%), cj1349 (99%), tlyA (99%), mviN (97.9%) and pldA (95.8%) were the predominant genes detected among A. butzleri isolates. In contrast, the mviN and ciaB genes were present in all, whereas cj1349 (12.5%), tlyA (25%) and hecA (12.5%) were only detected in few A. cryaerophilus isolates.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate that food products and environmental water in Lithuania are frequently contaminated with Arcobacter spp. that carry multiple putative virulence genes. Furthermore, A. butzleri were isolated from 1.7% of inpatients. Fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides were found to be more effective against Arcobacter in comparison to other antimicrobial agents. However, further studies are needed to determine the pathogenic mechanisms and factors that facilitate the spread of Arcobacter infections.
Highlights
Members of the genus Arcobacter are considered as emerging zoonotic food and waterborne pathogens that cause gastroenteritis and bacteremia in humans
Further studies are needed to determine the pathogenic mechanisms and factors that facilitate the spread of Arcobacter infections
In conclusion, the data of this study provide first insight into the prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility and putative virulence gene profiles of Arcobacter spp. from inpatients, foods of animal origin, ready-to-eat (RTE) salad mixes and environmental water in Lithuania
Summary
Members of the genus Arcobacter are considered as emerging zoonotic food and waterborne pathogens that cause gastroenteritis and bacteremia in humans. Pérez-Cataluña et al [3] proposed to divide the genus into seven different genera, the newly proposed classification is still under debate [4, 5]. Due to their ability to form biofilms on abiotic surfaces and survive in different conditions, Arcobacter species are widely distributed throughout the food chain and environment [6, 7]. Recent studies have shown that Arcobacter was the second and fourth most common bacterial pathogen isolated from human stool samples in Germany and Belgium, respectively [14, 19]
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